Dallas rape suspect charged with 5th attack

DALLAS — A fifth aggravated sexual assault count has been filed against a Dallas crime-watch volunteer who police suspect in a string of nine rapes in his inner-city neighborhood.

The charge filed Thursday against Van Dixson is in addition to four aggravated assault counts filed previously against the 38-year-old suspect.

Dallas County jail records show Dixson remains in the Dallas County Jail on bail totaling $5 million. A message left Tuesday with his court-appointed defense attorney was not returned.

Investigators say nine sexual assaults had been reported since June in a neighborhood southeast of downtown Dallas near Fair Park.

A tip led police to interview Dixson on Sept. 4, and he provided a DNA sample. Dixson was released without being charged. When test results linked Dixson to attacks several days later, authorities began searching for him, eventually arresting him Sept. 10 at a motel in Baton Rouge, La. He was returned to Dallas on Thursday.

The Mill City Community Association, which is a neighborhood crime watch group, said Dixson had been a member since January. Some residents said Dixson could often be seen walking the streets at night, purportedly on the lookout for criminals.

Dixson was convicted of aggravated robbery in 1993 and served more than 10 years in prison, criminal records show.